Speed up your PC?

So, how do you speed up your PC. Well there's no definite software or speed up software which can increase your pc speed in a minute. But there are some tips to speed up your computer, tune up your computer and give it a new life.

Here are some tips to speed up your PC:

1) Desktop

-->Now, most of us have the habit of dumping everything on our desktop, well its our home, isn't it? Well, too much icons on your desktop can sometimes decrease your speed, and also increase the start up time.

-->Always keep mimimum icons on your desktop, don't keep documents, images, mp3s and other sorts of icons on your desktop. Those are extra things for the CPU to take into processing.

-->Group similar types of icons into folders. For example, you can keep Firefox, Internet Explorer, Skype, Chrome, Thunderbird, Outlook etc. in a folder called "Internet" on your desktop. This way you are making a neat desktop, and a faster PC.-->Try doing this once, and it will help you to decrease boot time.This is how my desktop looks:

2) Defrag Hard Disk

-->As the number of files increases, new file get added everyday, some get deleted, the organization of files on the hard disk become cluttered, non-organized. This is called fragmentation. This basically means that files are not stored in a specific manner on your hard disk, and they need to be rearranged.

-->This affects overall speed of your computer, because your hard disk takes more time to find a particular file or record, it has to spin more, which is extra work.

-->So you need to defragment your disk regularly. I recomment doing it once every 4-5 months if you are a casual user, if you are a heavy user, with chunks of data, then you need to defragment every 2-3 months.

How to defrag?

-->Windows has a built-in degragmenter, which can defrag your hard disk. In Windows 7, click on your start menu and type "Disk Defragmenter", and start it.

You can select individual drives, analyze them, and then defrag them if they are fragmented.

-->You can use Defraggler, its a free utility,download it from here: https://www.piriform.com/defraggler/download

--> You can also use JKDefrag, I prefer it more. You can download it here: http://www.kessels.com/jkdefrag/

3)Virtual Memory

What is virtual memory?

-->Your computer uses RAM - Random Access Memory, for performing any functions. It takes data from the hard disk, processes it in RAM and then returns the results. When your PC runs low on RAM, it transfer data from data to your hard disk is a "Pagefile", thus it frees the RAM temporarily. That is called virtual memory. Virtual memory basically allows RAM contents to be transferred to your PC's hard disk, so you have more RAM.

How to increase virtual memory?

-->In Windows 7 or Windows 8, right click Computer >> Properties >> In the left section click on "Advanced System Settings" >> "Advanced" tab >> Under "Performance" , click on Settings >> "Advanced" >> Under "Virtual memory" click on "Change" >> Now select the drive on which you have free space, and click "Custom size", then enter the the size which you want to give in mega bytes.

4) Antivirus Software

-->Most PC users must be using some kind of antivirus software to protect their PCs from viruses.

-->While antivirus software protects your PC, it is the main cause of your PC slow down. Antivirus uses a lot of PC resources, which slows down your PC.

-->While I am not totally against using an Antivirus, but unless you cannot live without it, you should try uninstalling your antivirus software. I haven't used any antivirus software for many years. Yes, I do face many virus attacks, but most attacks can be taken care off, if right steps are taken at the right time.

-->If you plan to use your PC without an antivirus software, first thing you should do is to create an "Emergency Disk". Then you can use that disk, if you are infected with viruses. The most popular and powerful "Emergency Disk" you can use is "Hiren's Boot CD". I recommend it because it has almost everything you need to troubleshoot your PC.

-->Hiren's boot cd contains a lot of antivirus utilities, and other stuff which you can use to disinfect your PC from viruses. A better practice would be to burn it to a DVD, and keep it somewhere safe. This way you are making a bootable DVD that you can boot into, and use those utilities at the time of starting your PC.

How to prevent viruses from infecting your PC?

-->Now, there is no 100% way to stop viruses from coming to your PC, but you can minimize the chances of virus coming to your PC by taking some precautions. Here are some tips to prevent viruses from infecting your PC:

1)Use full file extensions in your PC. Always check the extension of any new file, or any suspicious file. Some viruses show themselves as an mp3 or a video, but are an ".exe" executable file. Always check extensions before clicking on unknown files.

2)The most common source of viruses are removable drives, also known as pen drives. And the most dangerous virus which can infect your PC is the "Folder virus". This virus makes an application within your pen drive, and hides all contents within it. So you are forced to open that application. In this type of cases, you will see an icon of a Folder, but infact it is an executable file. So when you click on it, thinking that its a folder, you run the virus code, and it infects your PC. When you need to get data from such infected pen drives, you can go to "Organize" in your windows explorer, then "Folder and search options", View tab, remove the tickmark from "Hide protected operating system files", OK. After doing this, you will be able to see the data on the pen drive, and you can safely copy it.

3)Another source of viruses is the internet. Never open any SPAM emails such as "You have won 1000000GBP in XYZ Company Lottery", "MONEY TRANSFER", "COCA COLA DRAW". Just think once that in this world, if someone cant even give you a free cup of tea, then how can someone give you millions of dollars? This are scams and often contain viruses. Also do not download attachments from such emails.

-->Another source of viruses are the torrents, pirated software, cracks. Usually the survey sites are illegitimate, and are a waste of time.